Starving artists?

Sarasota prides itself on being a community that promotes, values, and advocates for the arts. Yet it remains a challenging place for young artists to support themselves. Recently I spent some time with four talented locals — all under the age of 30 — from various artistic disciplines, to talk about salaries, expenses and the sacrifices they make in order to pursue their artistic dreams here.Their commitment to staying in town while staying true to their calling is a tribute both to their affection for the community and the power of their passion.

Michael Mendez, actor

Michael Mendez / HT Staff photo by Dan Wagner

Age: 21

Main employer: Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

Annual income: About $12,000

Secondary jobs: Music gigs, freelance acting jobs

Biggest expenses: Rent, food

Splurge: A sushi dinner

On Sarasota: "I feel it could be more supportive. It's supportive of the big arts organizations that are already established, but there's not a lot of highlight put on upcoming artists and many have no platforms where they can perform."

Born in the Domenican Republic and raised in New York City and Bradenton, Michael Mendez was steeped in the immigrant ethic that when it came to a career "you got the best job you could get, preferably with the government, and you worked until your muscles ached or the sun went down."

His talent and passion lay in music, singing and songwriting, but there was no way his single mother could afford the expense of private instruction. So theater — which he began as a student at the Manatee School for Performing Arts and in a Manatee Players' production of "A Chorus Line" — became the means to an end.

"I've been running from the theater since I first started," says Mendez, now a popular regular with the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. "But I used the opportunities because every theater needs guys and I thought I could get some vocal lessons that way."

It was only "literally, a month ago," that the 21-year-old with the charismatic smile committed himself fully to pursuing an acting career. He has been encouraged by Nate Jacobs, his mentor, teacher and the founder of the WBTT, which has supplied Mendez with regular, if not lavishly paid employment for the past two years.

Mendez rehearses for an upcoming show featuring the music of Stevie Wonder at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. / HT Staff photo by Dan Wagner

Mendez realizes the Sarasota troupe has opened doors that may not have been available elsewhere to someone of his age, experience and race.

"Scored is the word for it," says Mendez. "Without this platform, I would not have had the work or the guidance. Without it, it would probably have taken me four more years to gain the confidence I have today, not to mention the resume."

Yet, his annual income is barely above the poverty level of $11,500 and most months he falls short on expenses of about $1,500 for rent on the house he shares with his mother, gas for his car and a cell phone bill. A sushi dinner represents a rare splurge.

At barely legal age, he's not even sure if he has health insurance (through his mother's policy) and he's not worried enough about finances to take a second job, like the one he last had, at Publix, at age 15.

Nor is he considering a college degree. He dropped out of the State College of Florida after a year and a half, figuring, "If I'd stayed in school I would have come out five years behind in experience and $40,000 in debt."

At the moment, with the assistance of his mother, who helps with car insurance, food and miscellaneous expenses, he has more prospects than debt. Recently he signed with a New York agency that he hopes will provide him with more opportunities. But the television career he hopes for will take him away from Sarasota, a place he loves but a community he feels could be more supportive of young artists.

"There's not a lot of highlighting of upcoming artists and Sarasota as a whole rarely supports young performers," he says. "Many young artists here have no platforms to truly perform. There's not enough attention, not enough festivals and when they try, there are noise complaints."

Right now, his financial goals are secondary to his artistic dreams.

"I'm not a materialistic person, I don't do for this for the money or fame," Mendez says. "As long as the rent is paid and I have food in my tummy, I'm satisfied.

"But I'm a very selfish person when it comes to my art. And late at night, I'd like to be able to not have to think about how to pay my bills."

On Sarasota: "Sarasota really wants to be supportive and there are lots of opportunities here. The key word is 'young' artists. This is still a great place to retire and some of the older generation is not very receptive to things like tattoos, murals or graffiti art."

It was as a young student in Naples that the young artist now known as Jack Quack! drew a picture of some groundhog holes that earned the accolades of his fourth grade classmates. Between that and the encouragement of his mother — an art teacher at the same school — his career choice was set almost before he chose it.

By the time he graduated from high school and moved out to Oregon with a girlfriend to start a faux-finishing business, he was already making his primary income as an artist.

But over the past decade he's had to take a series of secondary jobs to stay afloat. Some have been related to his art work — like painting murals on buses for the Kuku Kunuku company in Aruba, crafting customized candles for a Naples specialty gallery and teaching cellular anatomy classes through art at the Phoenix Academy. More have been "crummy" — outdoor janitor work during Florida's steamy summer months or hanging roof gutters.

At the moment, adhering to an extremely frugal and workaholic lifestyle that includes four roommates to share the rent, no car and a vegetarian diet, Quack! proudly claims to be "making a living completely from my art."

But not from a single job. His primary income, a munificent $200 a week ( "if we can afford it" ) comes from the Clothesline Gallery in Burns Court, where he bears the title of "head designer." But he's also designing beer labels for J Dub's Brewery, painting commissioned murals, creating t-shirt designs for a wealthy power boat owner and training to become a tattoo artist.

At the same time he's finishing his degree at the Ringling College of Art and Design after a year's setback due to a motorcycle accident that left him unable to walk for five months.

"I really want never to be a starving artist, so I try to be diverse and adapt to the market," says Quack!, who is reed-thin, with brown hair nearly to his shoulders, dark-rimmed glasses and a scruffy beard. "I try to be proficient in every traditional media, as well as digital work. I want clients to be able to see there's no work I can't do."

A self-portrait by Sarasota artist Jack Quack!, head designer at the Clothesline Gallery in Burns Court. / Photo courtesy of the artist

Like many of his counterparts, Quack!, who loves the outdoors and is more likely to go for a hike than to a movie, is not particularly motivated by dollar signs. He cheerfully admits that he's "a big softie, I love to underbid myself," and that he often takes work for a pittance hoping it will lead to other jobs. Sorting through a portfolio that includes watercolors, oils, pastels, scratch board and graphic design, he names his pay for each — ranging from a $1,700 mural fee split with a partner to "some pizza" for a RCAD job.

His "cheap lifestyle" and five school loans allow him to meet most of his expenses; his parents contribute a small portion of his tuition and charity aid helps with the $150,000 in medical bills from his accident. (He has health insurance as part of his school tuition.) But when he graduates next year, he expects to be about $40,000 in debt — an amount he says is "fairly typical."

"All but the slackers" amongst his schoolmates who graduated last year have left town. After graduation, he's likely to go too, with his current girlfriend, who is also an artist.

"I read a scary statistic the other day that 10 years after graduating, only 20 percent of art graduates are still working in their field," he says. "I don't want that to be me.

"I'm really driven for the career and I really want to make it on my own. I've been discouraged many times, but I've always wanted to be an artist."

Amy Wood, dancer

Amy Wood / Photo by Barbara Banks

Age: 29

Main employer: Sarasota Ballet (soloist)

Annual income from primary job: $25,000

Secondary job: Hostess at Lido Beach Resort; back office work in group sales for Sarasota Ballet

Biggest expenses: Rent, health insurance, plane tickets home

Splurge: Dinner at a night restaurant, a new leotard

On Sarasota: "The salaries could definitely improve, but I don't think I could find a company anywhere else that suits me better."

In the seven years Amy Wood has been with the Sarasota Ballet, there has never been at time when she hasn't had at least one other job, often two. This summer, for the 17 weeks of the year when she is not under contract as a soloist with the Sarasota Ballet, she is working both as a hostess at the Lido Beach Resort Grill and in the ballet's administrative offices, handling the organization's group sales.

"The financial thing is a constant issue," admits the 29-year old, whose salary with the ballet has nearly doubled — from less than $15,000 a year to about $26,000 — since she was offered a contract via an open audition in New York in 2006. "Every now and then I think, what am I doing here? But then, you get on stage and look out at the audience, or you get a role you particularly love and you think...this is why. I wouldn't trade it."

Wood began dancing at 4 and "got serious" about it midway through high school, when she transferred to the Interlochen Arts Academy in northern Michigan. After graduating with a degree in performance from Butler University, she joined Nashville Ballet's second company — for free training but no salary.

While the $250 a week she was first offered in Sarasota was nowhere near enough to live on, it was enough to lure her here.

"That was my goal, to get a paying job and it was absolutely so exciting to be offered one," says Wood, slender and tall for a dancer at nearly 5'8". "I'm so lucky that it turned out to be a good fit and I've been able to stay."

But there have been some difficult years, particularly the first, when she worked both a hostessing job and a retail job at Ann Taylor during the ballet season. With tight budgeting and by taking on roommates (when she'd prefer living alone), she has come through with a debt-free car and the ability to pay the portion of her health insurance the ballet doesn't cover.

In addition to a job as a hostess at the Lido Beach Resort, dancer Amy Wood also helps in the Sarasota Ballet back office. / HT Staff photo by Elaine Litherland

This year, about 2/3 of her income came from her ballet, up from about 50/50 in the past. It was a successful year for her artistically too, culminating with the company's performances in Washington, D.C. in the "Ballet Across America" showcase.

She hopes to have many dancing years remaining, but knowing the brevity of a ballet career, the future is always in the back of her mind. She doesn't want to teach dance, but the prospect of returning to school for an additional degree is "too frightening" due to the debt she would incur. So she still pinches every penny; even buying a $35 leotard is a rarity.

In a field where pensions are nonexistent, she knows she has to earn as much as she can, while she can, so she often takes on additional shifts.

"There are some hard days," Wood admits. "Sometimes not even mentally, it's just that my legs are tired from standing all day. But right now, it's not unmanageable."

She's found the local community to be extremely supportive and considers the Sarasota Ballet patrons in particular to be "one of the major perks here." The financial sacrifice she has made by being at a smaller troupe with only mid-range salaries has been compensated by the ballet's management, repertoire and camaraderie.

"I don't think I could find a company that suits me better," Wood says. "It's a good working environment, which you don't always find in a dance community.

"Yes, there are some hard days, but I do think it's worth the sacrifice. Going to D.C. was a prime example of that."

On Sarasota: "I do wish there was more here in the summer. It's a huge pain to uproot your life every June."

Cheryl Losey grew up in Harpswell, Maine, but she didn't realize the coincidence until years after she took up the harp at age 5 at the encouragement of her mother, who'd always wanted to play one.

By 12, when she began traveling an hour and a half twice a week each way to study with a renowned teacher and play in a youth orchestra, she already figured that music would be her life, despite the fact that all three of her siblings opted for the more lucrative field of medicine.

"For whatever reason, I was really self motivated," says Losey, the Sarasota Orchestra's harpist since 2008. "My parents never had to tell me to practice."

Two weeks before her graduation with a master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, she auditioned here. She had never heard of Sarasota and didn't know a single person in town when she accepted the job she was offered "after what they told me was the shortest decision they'd ever made."

"Harp jobs hardly ever come up," says Losey, many of whose classmates have returned to school for alternate degrees. "The job market is so small and, knowing all the work I'd put in, almost forever, it was great to know it was actually going to pay off."

Her contract, which runs from September through May, brings in about $35,000, which Losey calls "a liveable wage." But the amount is deceptive when you consider her expenses, which include paying back the remainder of $50,000 in school loans, rent on the house she needs for teaching private lessons, and musical supplies, which include nearly $1,000 a year for harp strings and at least the equivalent for music and other supplies.

To make ends meet over the past few years, she has sometimes accepted some jobs with the Sarasota Opera during the orchestra season.

"It did make my life insane, though," she admits. "I wouldn't have a day off anytime between November and April. And those operas don't get out until 11:30 p.m.!"

This summer, between her private students, who pay $50 an hour, and summertime jobs as a teacher at the Blue Lake Music Camp in Michigan and playing for the Sun Valley Symphony, she hopes to save for a major upcoming expense, the purchase of a new harp. At $37,000 it costs more than she makes in an entire year.

"That's the most challenging thing and what's always in the back of my head is saving as much as I can toward that," Losey says. "I'm not the most materialistic person and with what I chose to do, I knew I would never be rich. But I've thought a lot about how nice it would be not to be constantly worried about every little purchase."

In addition to teaching private lessons, harpist Cheryl Losey also plays weddings and other events to supplement her income from the Sarasota Orchestra. / Photo courtesy of Cheryl Losey

Losey can only recall one time when she felt regret over her career choice. It came after she'd turned down jobs and spent a considerable sum to attend a competition in the Netherlands that "didn't turn out as I would have liked."

"I kept thinking, 'What other career could you put in so much time and energy and not be guaranteed a return? Where did I go wrong?

The feeling didn't last.

"Almost every day I feel so lucky to do what I do, even though I have to make a lot of sacrifices," she adds.

One of those is leaving Sarasota every summer to supplement her income and network for future jobs. The seasonality of her contract is her major complaint about the community.

"People here support the arts in so many ways," she says. "We always have appreciative audiences, packed houses and media coverage and outside of the orchestra, people hire us so often," she says.

But now that she is settled and has begun dating another musician, who also must leave during the summer for work, having to uproot for three months is distressing.

"At the beginning, I felt like it was more of an adventure," she says. "But now, I'd much rather stay home in Sarasota."

What they earn

Median pay per hour for:

Dancers/Choreographers: $15.97

Actors: $17.44

Fine Artists: $20.90

Musicians/singers: $22.39

American Community Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010Did you know?

*Artists earn at least $6,000 less annually than other "professional" workers

*More than one third of all artists are self-employed

*One third of all artists work fewer than 50 weeks a year

*Twenty-eight percent of artists work fewer than 35 hours a week

*Forty percent of musicians work for nonprofits, more than any other artist group

*Dancers have the lowest median annual income at $15,000

Carrie Seidman

Carrie Seidman has been a newspaper features writer, columnist and reviewer for 30 years...and a dancer for longer than that. She has a master's degree from Columbia University Journalism School and is a former competitive ballroom dancer. Contact her via email, or at (941) 361-4834.
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Last modified: July 11, 2013
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